Apr 24, 2012

Lou Pimentel x MPH Labs – Cranston Gone Vinyl?

Look at what was recently shared in the Cranston Fellow Jr. & Friends Facebook page. It seems as though Lou Pimentel is working once again with mphlabs to create a new figure. So far all we have is the bottom of what looks to be the wax mold, which may mean a Lou Pimentel Vinyl toy?! Seeing how it’s posted in the Cranston Fellow Jr. page, could we also be getting a glimpse of Cranston going vinyl?

Peter Kato x myplasticheart – Metal Fusion Turtle Tetsujin Resins

myplasticheart has once again teamed up with Peter Kato on not one, but two exclusive versions of his Turtle Tetsujin resin figures. The two Metal Fusion Turtle Tetsujins (2.5”) are hand-cast in clear resin with hand-painted metallic features and have embedded mph heart logos in their chests. Metal Fusion Orange features a clear orange torso and arms while Metal Fusion Silver features a mostly silver body with a clear yellow area in the center of its chest. Both figures will be released on Thursday (4.26) for $19.99 on the mph site. Also if you are interested in the previously released Hinomaru Turtle Tetsujins which benefit Japanese disaster relief, now’s the time as these will be unavailable shortly.

The Given Presents: Keg O’ Boom

The Given is proud to announce the first ever South African produced art toy! Keg O’ Boom is made of resin and stands 4” tall, which is available in a White edition. This first run of Keg O’ Booms are limited to only 50 pieces and you also have a 1 in 4 chance of scoring a rare GID Keg O’ Boom variant. They will also throw in one ultra rare hand painted figure thrown in the bunch. Each Keg O’ Boom comes blind packaged and includes a certificate authenticity and are signed and numbered by Abe Viljoen of The Given.

They are available for pre-order now for a limited time price of $20 until May 18th. After that the price will move up to $23. Unfortunately they do not have an online store to make your purchase, so you would need to send an electronic payment (Details Seen HERE). Then simply send an email to kegOboom[at]thegiven.co.za to confirm your purchase.

Chris Ryniak – Mud Puddle Snybora (04.27)

Take a gander at the latest release of Chris Ryniak’s Snybora figure from The Lake Monsters series, which looks to be my favorite edition of the bunch! The Mud Puddle Snybora features a tan vinyl with a burnt sienna rub, brown spray, matte finish, with glossy eyes. The paint application was done by Joe Somers of Squibbles Ink. and Kirby Kerr of Rotofugi. This dirty little monster will be available on Friday, April 27th at 11AM CSTHERE for $35.

Mr. Toast iOS Game

Dan Goodsell has just launched the official Mr. Toast game for iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad). The arcade style game has you control his signature character as you weave around obstacles while picking up vital speedups in the shape of food and precious bonus time all in the quest to get to the finish line (‘levels’ mode) or extend your run (‘infinite’ mode). Featuring hand-drawn art from Goodsell himself and catchy retro style music, Mr. Toast is at first challenging (the tilt controls take a bit of practice, at least for this 40-something blogger) and then charming game.

After having played two levels, I’ve noticed plenty of fun touches including powerups such as Ghost and Mega Toast as well as amusing obstacles including a cell phone that delays you by forcing you to endure a conversation with Shaky Bacon and other characters. Speaking of Bacon, there are bonus levels to unlock which let you play as Shaky Bacon and Joe the Egg. If you love Mr. Toast, go check out the game in the Apple App Store – it’s only 99 cents.

Tristan Eaton’s Dragon Mural

Tristan Eaton (Dunny Creator, Thunderdog Prez, and then some) finished his first gift to Downtown LA in the form of a Five-headed Dragon Mural. Look for plenty more to follow as he makes the jump back to LA from NYC where he’s lived for quite awhile. Check out Dailydujour for a full photo gallery including daytime shots of the finished piece.

KRNY Presents: Krink NY vs. Monster Kolor Paint Battle (05.03)

Queue the dramatic battle music! It looks as though Krink NYC will be taking on Monster Kolor in an epic paint battle that will be taking place at Kidrobot NY. Paint will most definitely be shed as Team Krink (Krink, Auks One, Mr Munk) go at it with Team Monster Kolor (Dead President, Sucklord, L’amour Supreme) on the battlefield, which of course are some platform toys! So be sure to head on over to KRNY on Thursday, April 3rd from 6-8PM. Expect great company, amazing art, freebies and one battle you do not want to miss!

Otto Bjorniks – Revenge of the Wolves

Otto Bjornik is back once again with an amazing series of custom Dunnys and Munny, which is entitled “Revenge of the Wolves”. This time he has acquired the help of his younger sister to make this a collaborative release, as he does the painting of the figures and she does the sewing of the clothes. Available on Tuesday, April 24th at 9PM EST will be an 8” Lago Dunny ($450) and the Lyca set ($700) that features a 7” Lyca Munny with Dunny Accessory Ears, two 3” Dunny cubs and a 3” Lago Dunny.

The rumbling in her babies' tummies is too much for Lyca to bear. It has been days since they've last eaten, not since her husband was viciously killed while foraging for food. Every night, Lyca and her little ones visit the bluffs where she and her husband first fell in love. There, she wails for their loss and longingly calls out for him in the vast emptiness. But the only sound that answers is the echo of her cubs' whimpers and the growling of their tummies.

She must snap out of her grief and feed her starving babies. With a mother's instincts and a widow's vindictiveness, Lyca vows to avenge her husband's murder. She already got rid of the lumberjack. All she has to do now is devise a plan to get that rabbit Lago once and for all.

Kozik x Kidrobot – Clear Blue & Pink Smorkin’ Labbits (05.10)

Kidrobot is most certainly keeping the Labbit fanatics awake with all of their releases lately. This time, Kozik’s 10” Labbit is released in a Clear Pink and Clear Blue edition. These will be available in all Kidrobot Stores, KR Online and select retailers on Thursday, May 10th for $60 each.

Brutherford Industries has picked up one of their first customers to do an exclusive release. How amazing is that?! They’ve asked Mando and Dottie of Brown Magic Paint Company to give a little paint job to their Ice Scream Man figures, which they proudly present to you as the Stainless Steel Strawberry & Heavy Metal Mint flavors. They are each limited to 5 pieces each and are available now for $115 each. They also comes signed and numbered, as well as feature a custom pinstriped box by Brown Magic Paint Co.

Apr 20, 2012

Kidrobot – Munnyworld 2012 Contest

Calling all toy customizers! Kidrobot is asking everyone to bust out your acrylics, paints, sprays, super sculpey, or whatever you need to get your creative juices flowing. For it is time, for the Munnyworld 2012 Contest! They will be looking for customs to give out some awesome prizes in the following categories:

Best In ShowPeople’s Choice – Design with most votes Kidrobot’s Choice - Chosen from all of the submissions PRIZES : $200 Gift Card, Glossy Mega MUNNY, 1 of each Mini MUNNYWORLD figures and 1 of each7-inch MUNNYWORLD figures.

Best In CharacterBest Munny Best Trikky Best Raffy Best Foomi Best Kracka Best Bub Best Rooz PRIZES : $100 Gift Card, 1 of each Mini MUNNYWORLD figures and 1 of each 7-inch MUNNYWORLD figures.

Best In CategoryBest use of color Best use of food Best parent/child collaboration Best use of pop culture Scariest Best Mecha-nized Open/Misc PRIZES : $50 Gift Card and 1 of each Mini MUNNYWORLD figures.

To help you acquire some extra Munnyworld figures for the contest, Kidrobot is now issuing a buy 1 Munnyworld DIY platform figure and get the second one half off! They will be taking submissions via the Custom Contest Tab on their Facebook Page beginning on May 1st through May 31st. There will be a Kidrobot Panel who will decide who wins each category, with the exception of “People’s Choice”.

DMS – DIY Resin Mini Mecha

For your customizing needs, DMS has available in his store, the Do It Yourself Mini Mecha figure. This resin toy stands 2.75” tall and comes in a raw state, which means some sanding will be required. You can find them HERE for $9.99 each. DMS will also be making things a bit interesting by giving prizes out to those who pull of some of the best customs. all you have to do is send in your photos of your custom Mini Mech to minmecha[at]dms-one[dot]net.

RESTORE – Kingdom Mind

RESTORE’s Kingdom Mind figure is simply mind blowing and features tons of amazing detail within this 9.5” toy. We love how they’ve scaled up their smaller resin figures into these stunning vinyl toys, which is something we hope they do a lot more of. You can find the Kingdom Mind figure available for Pre-Order HERE through Lulubell Toys. Grab ‘em now for $165 while they last!

Reactor-88’s Custom Corner: Fakir

Welcome to Reactor-88'sCustom Corner. For the month of April we are highlighting Fakir, a full-time artist based in Paris. Fakir has a range of talents- illustration, character design, painting and of course custom toy making. He has also self-produced his own DIY toy, the Rabbit Qbiq. When I first saw Fakir's customs, I had mistaken them for production pieces. His paint application is super tight- even on the smallest 3-inch Dunny. But paint is only one part of the equation- he has a fantastic range of fun characters that are perfectly suited for each platform he chooses. I really enjoy his work and it was extremely hard just choosing a sampling to show here, so if you'd like to see more, head over to Fakir's website.

El Diablo, El Bebe, Y El Roboto? DBR3?

Paul Kaiju recently posted up this semi-cryptic flier featuring what looks to be L’amour Supreme’s Necro Man, PK’s Biterman, and Fig-Lab’s Cy’Os figures with RealxHead. What could be coming from El Diablo, El Bebe, Y El Robot? We cannot wait to hear more on this!

Apr 18, 2012

Cris Rose – Steel Bluebird Sprogs (4.19)

Cris Rose is about unleash a new wave of Sprogs. Offered in blind fashion, the Steel Bluebird Sprogs run features 26 figures – 5 each of five Sprogs: Rollo (Postal bot), Rigel (Maintenance bot), Reason (Lab assistant bot), Rankin (Observation Drone MkIV), Rockford (Emergency/Crowd Control bot) as well as a single chase Raymond sprog. These hand-cast, and hand-painted Sprogs (2.5 – 3”) will go on sale from his online store on Thursday, April 19th @ 6 PM London time (10 AM PDT) for $65 each. Remember these are sold blind, meaning you won’t know which figure you’ll receive until you get the package and open it up.

Healeymade x mph – NKOTB : 420 (4.20)

To celebrate 4.20 which is all about breathing in the ‘green’, myplasticheart will release Healeymade’s very pink NKOTB : 420 figure. Hmmm ? The 2” resin figure is based largely on a arch-shaped M.U.S.C.L.E. figure from the mid-80’s as well as another un-named 80’s toy (the head). NKOTB ? Awful 80’s boy band… Maybe this would make more sense if I wasn’t sober. At any rate, the toy features David Healey’s top-flight clear resin work and is a fun homage to an 80’s cult toy. Grab the mph exclusive on you guessed it April 20th at yes… 4:20 PM EDT over at myplasticheart.com for $19.99 while quantities last.

Super7 Presents: The Playsam 500 (04.28)

Paul Greenwood has compiled 59 of some of our favorite artists to take part in a show with an unusual platform. “The Playsam 500” features the classic Playsam Streamliner toy as the main canvas, which shows a lot of potential as a platform figure. A portion of the sales will help benefit the World Childhood Foundation. The show will take place on Saturday, April 28th and begins at 7PM at Super7 in San Francisco.

Peter Kato – Cherry Blossom Edition Resin Figures Available Now

Just yesterday Peter Kato released a new series of his original resin figures. The Remember the Cherry Blossoms series features the Cherry-Jelly Turtle Tetsujin, who is cast in clear pink and adorns a hand painted cherry on the torso, which can be found HERE for $20. Next up is Pink Kawako, who is available in a pink and light pink. They can each be found HERE and HERE for $10 a piece. Last up is the Pinky Sky Baby, who is also cast in a pink resin and can be found HERE for $5. If you couldn’t tell already, this release pays homage to the blooming of the cherry blossoms taking place in Japan.

Lulubell Toys has been bringing a lot of goodies to their storefront, as they have just announced the Pre-Order for the second standard release of Skinner’s Ultrus Bog figure. The Blue Velvet Star Crusher Edition as cast in a light blue vinyl and features an array of metallic sprays. This Pre-Order is open while supplies last and will run you $85 each. Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Martin Hsu – Dragon Boy Update

Our last initial update featured a factory shot of the prototype of Martin Hsu’s Dragon Boy figure. Here we have a teaser of the painted master, which is just another step from being finished! Maybe the next photo will show off the final figure? We can only hope!